Project Detail
An intelligent blend of elegance and performance in a boat that is easily handled and uncomplicated to sail. These are the key attributes underlying the design concept of the Stimson 66ft.
Touché can be sailed shorthanded by two or three people for coastal cruising, and will be competitive with a racing crew in IRC offshore classics such as the Fastnet, Middle Sea Race and the Giraglia.
Stimson Yachts carefully considered the elements of cost, complexity and performance throughout the design loop, and the end result is a fast, well-appointed yacht, which will be uncomplicated to sail. At the heart of the solution was the adoption of composite construction to minimise structural weight and maximise the ballast ratio.
Strip-plank cedar construction has been specified for hull no.1 Touché’s shell. The cost and time required to build the hull are much lower than a composite sandwich laminate, with just a small, but acceptable increase in weight.
Her wooden hull is sheathed with E-glass and epoxy, whilst the deck will be a male moulded vacuum consolidated E-glass/epoxy/PVC foam laminate, all structural engineering has been done by High Modulus.
The primary interior structures will be made of lightweight E-glass/foam core/epoxy sandwich panels, with non-structural joinery fabricated from custom E-glass/foam core panels with a 4mm wood veneer.
This 66 footer will offer the speed, stability and control that the owner requires for short handed sailing, but without turning to excessive systems often found on modern sailing yachts today. Electric winches are de rigueur in a yacht of this type, as is a powered headsail furler. The non-overlapping headsails are easy to tack, and both the complexity of a spinnaker pole and the crew required to operate it are removed by adopting a fixed bowsprit and asymmetrical spinnakers. Once again, this is a function of the weight saving that enables the yacht’s performance to benefit from A-sails and still attain sensible VMG numbers offwind.
The net result is a ballast ratio of over 40%, with an efficient high aspect keel fin slung beneath a slender, easily driven hull and a powerful rig.
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